Energy is a vital input for social and economic development. As a result of the generalization of agricultural, industrial and domestic activities the demand for energy has increased remarkably, especially in emergent countries. This has meant rapid grower in the level of greenhouse gas emissions and the increase in fuel prices, which are the main driving forces behind efforts to utilize renewable energy sources more effectively, i.e. energy which comes from natural resources and is also naturally replenished. Despite the obvious advantages of renewable energy, it presents important drawbacks, such as the discontinuity of generation, as most renewable energy resources depend on the climate, which is why their use requires complex design, planning and control optimization methods. Fortunately, the continuous advances in computer hardware and software are allowing researchers to deal with these optimization problems using computational resources, as can be seen in the large number of optimization methods that have been applied to the renewable and sustainable energy field. This paper presents a review of the current state of the art in computational optimization methods applied to renewable and sustainable energy, offering a clear vision of the latest research advances in this field.

Optimization methods applied to renewable and sustainable energy: A review

Presently, solar energy conversion is widely used to generate heat and produce electricity A comparative study on the world energy consumption released by International Energy Agency (IEA) shows that in 2050, solar array installations will supply around 45% of energy demand in the world It was found that solar thermal is getting remarkable popularity in industrial applications Solar thermal is an alternative to generate electricity, process chemicals or even space heating It can be used in food, non-metallic, textile, building, chemical or even business related industries On the other hand, solar electricity is wildly applied in telecommunication, agricultural, water desalination and building industry to operate lights, pumps, engines, fans, refrigerators and water heaters It is very important to apply solar energy for a wide variety of applications and provide energy solutions by modifying the energy proportion, improving energy stability, increasing energy sustainability, conversion reduction and hence enhance the system efficiency The present work aimed to study the solar energy systems utilization in industrial applications and looked into the industrial applications which are more compatible to be integrated with solar energy systems

A review on solar energy use in industries

This paper, prepared by a special task force of the IEEE PES Renewable Technologies Subcommittee, is a review of hybrid renewable/alternative energy (RE/AE) power generation systems focusing on energy sustainability. It highlights some important issues and challenges in the design and energy management of hybrid RE/AE systems. System configurations, generation unit sizing, storage needs, and energy management and control are addressed. Statistics on the current status and future trend of renewable power generation, as well as some critical challenges facing the widespread deployment of RE/AE power generation technologies and vision for future research in this area are also presented. The comprehensive list of references given at the end of the paper should be helpful to researchers working in this area.

A Review of Hybrid Renewable/Alternative Energy Systems for Electric Power Generation: Configurations, Control, and Applications

Public awareness of the need to reduce global warming and the significant increase in the prices of conventional energy sources have encouraged many countries to provide new energy policies that promote the renewable energy applications. Such renewable energy sources like wind, solar, hydro based energies, etc. are environment friendly and have potential to be more widely used. Combining these renewable energy sources with back-up units to form a hybrid system can provide a more economic, environment friendly and reliable supply of electricity in all load demand conditions compared to single-use of such systems. One of the most important issues in this type of hybrid system is to optimally size the hybrid system components as sufficient enough to meet all load requirements with possible minimum investment and operating costs. There are many studies about the optimization and sizing of hybrid renewable energy systems since the recent popular utilization of renewable energy sources. In this concept, this paper provides a detailed analysis of such optimum sizing approaches in the literature that can make significant contributions to wider renewable energy penetration by enhancing the system applicability in terms of economy.

Optimum design of hybrid renewable energy systems: Overview of different approaches

The use of central receiver system (CRS) for electricity production promises to be one of the most viable options to replace fossil fuel power plants. Indeed, research and development activities on its basic subsystems have been booming rapidly since 1980s. This paper reviews the most important studies on the major components of central receiver solar thermal power plants including the heliostat field, the solar receiver and the power conversion system. After an overview of Concentrating Solar Power (CSP) technology, current status and applications of the CRSs are highlighted. Next, a detailed literature survey of existing design comprising optical, thermal and thermodynamic analysis, and techniques used to assess components have been arranged. This is followed by experimental investigations in which design concepts are established. The last section contains recent subsequent improvement of such key components as heliostat, receiver and hybrid solar gas turbine that are boosting in many R&D activities merging international collaboration during the past 30 years.

A review of studies on central receiver solar thermal power plants

Heat loss analysis in a solar compound parabolic collector with aerogel and polycarbonate cover

The Linear Fresnel Reflector (LFR) system with direct steam generation (DSG) has lower capital cost owing to flat mirror and less construction requirements. Its optical efficiency, concentration ratio, and maximum temperature reached are lower compared to other concentrated solar technologies. The solar power tower (SPT) with molten salts can reach high temperatures around 590 °C with higher optical efficiency compared to other technologies. But due to high capital costs, commercialization of SPT in India has been limited. Concentrated thermal power plant is cost-intensive and so prior to detailed design, it is important to develop conceptual design considering type and size of solar field, site location, power cycle, working temperature and pressure, energy storage, heat transfer fluid, size of power block and economics of project. In this paper, a multi-field collector system configuration with integrated LFR-DSG and SPT-molten salt is proposed. The objective of this work is to compare multi-field configuration with SPT and LFR system on simple techno-economical parameters - solar multiple, storage capacity, and their levelized cost of electricity (LCOE). The system is evaluated on an hourly basis for a year by means of a simple energy-mass balance code developed in-house. For a 100 MW conceptual multi-field design and 14 h storage backup, the study shows annual energy output of 494 GWh with a capacity factor of 56.44 and LCOE of $0.18 kWh.

Shireesh B. Kedare

Papers

Heat loss analysis in a solar compound parabolic collector with aerogel and polycarbonate cover

Multi-field Solar Thermal Power Plant with Linear Fresnel Reflector and Solar Power Tower